For years, Bruce Wright and Ray RaLonde have been keeping a close eye on clams and mussels collected in the Aleutian region. They’ve collected samples from subsistence users and tested them for levels of paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins. Now the Alaska Forum on the Environment has honored the two scientists with a major achievement award for their project.

Wright is a senior scientist with the Aleutian Pribilof Islands Association, and RaLonde is an aquaculture specialist with the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory Program. They teamed up about a decade ago, and during the course of their work in the Aleutians, they saw spikes in PSP levels in places like Unalaska, Akutan, and King Cove. By tracking toxin levels, the project aimed to reduce the fatal risk involved with subsistence shellfish harvesting. Alarm over PSP levels reached a peak in 2010, when multiple cases of suspected paralytic shellfish poisoning were reported in Southeast Alaska over the course of one summer.

The project was funded by the Environmental Protection Agency and the North Pacific Research Board, and it wrapped up this year. Wright is now applying for grants for similar PSP monitoring projects.